DELPHI, ORACLE OF. — The principal oracle of Greece, located in Phocis, 573 m above sea level, on the southern slope of Mount Parnassus, near the Cassotis spring, in a chasm of the terrain (χάσμα γῆ).
The first deity to occupy this place, destined for such great mantic destiny, was Earth (Τῆ), represented by the serpent Python (Πύθων), a name also applied to the rocky locality; this is explained by the nature of the terrain, which communicates with the underground. The prehistoric sanctity of the place is documented by finds from the Minoan period. After the temporary rule of Poseidon, who succeeded Earth, a Dorian tribe worshipping Apollo arrived here and installed their god, who, having vanquished the serpent, became lord of the oracle.
At first, the responses were given by external signs: the song and flight of birds, pebbles; but later this lower form of divination was replaced by intuitive divination, that is, by inspiration from the deity, which gave responses through the mouth of its particular priestess, a young and virgin woman, the Pythia.
This change seems to have been due to the influence of the Dionysian religion, which very soon reached Delphi and is characterized by the sacred frenzy that seizes the female devotees of the Bacchic cult. The scholiast of Pindar (Pyth., 297) even considers Dionysus as having been anterior to Apollo in the possession of Delphi. Here, every two years, the festival of Dionysus was celebrated, and within the sanctuary his tomb was venerated; here, on the rear pediment of the temple, a Dionysian thiasos was depicted, and the three winter months, during Apollo’s absence—when he departed for the Hyperborean regions—were consecrated to him. Aeschylus (fragm. 341) calls Apollo “the Bacchic, rouser of madness, adorned with ivy.”
An essential part of the sanctuary was the underground chamber of the temple (ἐξύτοον), where the following were located: 1) the omphalos (= navel), symbol of the ideal religious center of the earth, a cylindrical stone terminating in an ovoid shape covered with bandages
arranged in a net-like or sloping pattern, which recalled the tomb of the serpent Python vanquished by Apollo and was a symbol of the sanctuary; thus Apollo is often depicted sitting upon it; 2) the tripod, a tall support consisting of three legs joined by a circle that held a basin (ἀξίφης) on which the Pythia sat at the moment of divine possession (Plut., Pyth. orac., 6), after drinking the water of the Cassotis spring and taking a laurel leaf in her mouth; 3) the tomb of Dionysus. The consultants (ἐξοφάνιοι) heard the words of the Pythia without being able to see her.
The oracle was presided over by a priesthood drawn from the Delphic aristocracy, consisting of two λεξεις who assisted the Pythia, collected and interpreted her words and oracles—often ambiguous enough to earn Apollo the title of λοξίας, the “oblique” one—and formulated them in hexameters or iambics, though prose was not excluded. There were also the ὀσιοί, “the pure,” five in number, who attended to the consultations, and the ἐξηγέται, “exegetes,” who explained the oracle, not the response, to the inquirers, confirming it through divinatory procedures.
Consultations took place, at first, once a year, on the seventh day of the month of Bysios (March-April), and later once a month, excluding the three winter months sacred to Dionysus.
The maintenance of the sanctuary depended on contributions from the Greek states; therefore, at politically decisive moments, the oracle always had a vacillating policy: it “medized” during the Persian Wars (Herodotus, VII, 149), “took the side of Philip” during the actions of Philip of Macedon (Dem., Or., 58, 37); it generally opposed tyrants, given its eminently aristocratic and conservative spirit.
Its influence was highly beneficial in directing the colonization of the Greeks, who, as the oracle was a center of first-order observation due to the influx of people from all origins, sought its counsel. It also indirectly exercised legislative activity by choosing the lawgivers of a city or approving their work; it even provided for the manumission of slaves, who, upon paying a sum before witnesses, became free as attendants of the sanctuary, which guaranteed their acquired freedom.
Around the sanctuary was constituted an Amphictyony
(ἀμφι-κτίονες “those who dwell nearby”), formed by representatives of the various Greek tribes (not cities); the Amphictyons exercised oversight of the sanctuary, organized the Pythian Games in honor of Apollo, and judged disputes between the Amphictyonic cities, thereby contributing to giving the Greeks a sense of their unity beyond civic barriers and to making Delphi the common hearth (κοινή, ἐστία: Plut. Arist., 20) of the Greek people.
Beyond these political merits, the oracle also contributed to refining customs, reserving for itself the judgment of blood vengeance (Orestes is guilty in the external forum as a matricide, but is judged innocent in the internal forum) and educating the moral conscience of the individual; well-known are the maxims: “Know thyself” (γνῶθι σεαυτόν), “Nothing in excess” (μηδὲν ἄγαν), and “Flee hybris” (ὕβρις).
After the so-called Sacred War (600-590) between Delphi and the people of Cirrha, in whose territory the sanctuary lay and from which the Cirrhaeans claimed tribute, Delphi gained its autonomy, opening for it an era of great prosperity attested by the buildings that flourished around the sanctuary. Macedonian interference, which also extended to Delphi, caused the fame of the sanctuary to decline, which further suffered a twofold invasion by the Gauls (279 and 109 B.C.) and then Roman occupation.
The emperors endeavored to restore the cult and the sanctuary. Augustus reorganized the Amphictyony, Domitian restored the sanctuary plundered by Nero, Trajan increased the number of Amphictyons to thirty with the intention of forming an administrative council for the province of Macedonia and Achaia, and Hadrian and the Antonines contributed to the revival of the city. During this period Plutarch served as priest of the sanctuary for twenty years, from 105 to 126, and left us three works on II.